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Anonymous User wrote:Really? Even this guy w/ HF experience and a 99th percentile GMAT? Yikes. Is it really that hard to get into a M7 school?

The short answer is no. I'm a Harvard JD/MBA (one of seven in the class of 2014) who had zero work experience when I applied. I ended up deferring to work for a couple of years, but that's beside the point. The reason HBS is full of Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey alumni is self-selection - those are the kind of people that apply so those are the kind of people that get in. HBS is also about 35% women - the reason is probably because only about 30-40% of the applicant pool is female.

If you want to get in to an M7 school, you have to know what you're doing when you apply. Getting into law school was comparatively easy, just have the right numbers and everybody will take you. For b-school you actually have to sell yourself and tell a compelling story.

That said, even with a JD/MBA getting into PE or HF is really really difficult. IBanking is actually a much easier route because PE and HF expect a certain amount of previous banking experience. Now, if you go to law school after working at a bank for a few years it becomes a different story - but you could have gotten into a PE/HF without going to law school just as easily.

Anonymous User wrote:Really? Even this guy w/ HF experience and a 99th percentile GMAT? Yikes. Is it really that hard to get into a M7 school?

The short answer is no. I'm a Harvard JD/MBA (one of seven in the class of 2014) who had zero work experience when I applied. I ended up deferring to work for a couple of years, but that's beside the point. The reason HBS is full of Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey alumni is self-selection - those are the kind of people that apply so those are the kind of people that get in. HBS is also about 35% women - the reason is probably because only about 30-40% of the applicant pool is female.

If you want to get in to an M7 school, you have to know what you're doing when you apply. Getting into law school was comparatively easy, just have the right numbers and everybody will take you. For b-school you actually have to sell yourself and tell a compelling story.

That said, even with a JD/MBA getting into PE or HF is really really difficult. IBanking is actually a much easier route because PE and HF expect a certain amount of previous banking experience. Now, if you go to law school after working at a bank for a few years it becomes a different story - but you could have gotten into a PE/HF without going to law school just as easily.

Interesting. At HBS, did you know a lot of people with non-trad WE? Say for example, TFA or working at an NGO? Basically, my goal is to get into a non-HSW (being realistic) T10 MBA program, but I'm concerned about 2 things: first, getting in without great WE; and second, getting a job after b-school without great WE (with bascially only 3 years of unexceptional/unprestigious WE and the name of the school on the resume).

i didnt mean to say that this guy with those types of statistics would have trouble getting into b-school. i just meant to clarify that not everyone working at a hedge fund is some genius. generally, i feel like there is this mystical view of hedge funds/pe shops/goldman sachs in these forums. it could just be attributed to lack of knowledge, but to be honest, they really are not all that interesting

I don't think anyone has the impression that they're interesting; just at least as interesting as being a biglaw associate, and a far superior alternative to LS. If I could get anything close to HF/PE experience I'd withdraw my LS apps in a heartbeat.

same poster as above....interesting may have been the wrong choice of words. i meant that they are really not all that mysterious/mystical/(choose whatever word you'd like). i'm not specifically pointing to this thread, but i just see it posted on these forums all of the time. i guess it can just be attribute to lack of experience.

as someone currently working at a hedge fund, i just think people are completely going the wrong route if they think going to law school is the way to get into a hedge fund/pe/bb bank. you are much better spending your whole day doing research, networking, applying to jobs, actually hitting the streets at an attempt to find a job. it does not take an ivy degree/advanced degree to land a job at one of these types of firms and work your way up the ladder

Anonymous User wrote:What about Harvard JD who already has a CPA? Would he be competitive v. Harvard MBA v. Harvard JD/MBA for hedge fund/private equity?

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again i don't understand why people think having advanced degrees makes them qualified for PE/HF work. thats like asking would a phd in education be able to land a hf job. your cpa is useless to them. it doesn't teach you any valuation skills, any trading skills, or how to generate new investment ideas. having positions as a banker or trader does. thats why hf's love traders and bankers. a cpa sets you up to be an accountant, not a banker.

of course you can still get a back-office job at hf with a cpa, like working in their accounting dept. but don't expect to be making bank. the people who take him the large bonuses are the ones responsible for bringing the money in.

i didnt mean to say that this guy with those types of statistics would have trouble getting into b-school. i just meant to clarify that not everyone working at a hedge fund is some genius. generally, i feel like there is this mystical view of hedge funds/pe shops/goldman sachs in these forums. it could just be attributed to lack of knowledge, but to be honest, they really are not all that interesting

I don't think anyone has the impression that they're interesting; just at least as interesting as being a biglaw associate, and a far superior alternative to LS. If I could get anything close to HF/PE experience I'd withdraw my LS apps in a heartbeat.

same poster as above....interesting may have been the wrong choice of words. i meant that they are really not all that mysterious/mystical/(choose whatever word you'd like). i'm not specifically pointing to this thread, but i just see it posted on these forums all of the time. i guess it can just be attribute to lack of experience.

as someone currently working at a hedge fund, i just think people are completely going the wrong route if they think going to law school is the way to get into a hedge fund/pe/bb bank. you are much better spending your whole day doing research, networking, applying to jobs, actually hitting the streets at an attempt to find a job. it does not take an ivy degree/advanced degree to land a job at one of these types of firms and work your way up the ladder

If not that, then what? What got you your current job?

nothing crazy...i went to a decent liberal arts school, with ok grades (<3.5, but not far behind), and took a crappy operations job at a large financial firm. i networked like crazy/talked to many recruiters and was able to leverage the small work experience i had to get on a sell-side brokerage desk. after busting my ass there for 2.5yrs, i did the same thing i did at my first job--i networked and talked to a bunch of recruiters. that landed me on a trading desk at a hedge fund

nothing crazy...i went to a decent liberal arts school, with ok grades (<3.5, but not far behind), and took a crappy operations job at a large financial firm. i networked like crazy/talked to many recruiters and was able to leverage the small work experience i had to get on a sell-side brokerage desk. after busting my ass there for 2.5yrs, i did the same thing i did at my first job--i networked and talked to a bunch of recruiters. that landed me on a trading desk at a hedge fund

Gotcha... my trouble is getting the first business-related job. All my experience so far points to LS (paralegal) so I'm gonna have trouble not only shaking that stigma, but also parlaying my current experience into something that any employer would find desirable.

How did you get that first job? And what do you mean by "operations?" Thanks man. I'm trying like hell to get out of the LS track, clearly.

i think its great how above poster went from an operations role to a trading desk, but people should be aware this is very rare, and even that poster will admit no one should go into operations expecting to transition into a trading role. i know a couple who did it and they also did it through A LOT of networking, but i just think people shouldn't be getting the idea that is is a normal route to be a trader at a hf. most pple who begin in back office will stay there unless they want to go get their mba.

Anonymous User wrote:The short answer is no. I'm a Harvard JD/MBA (one of seven in the class of 2014) who had zero work experience when I applied. I ended up deferring to work for a couple of years, but that's beside the point. The reason HBS is full of Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey alumni is self-selection - those are the kind of people that apply so those are the kind of people that get in. HBS is also about 35% women - the reason is probably because only about 30-40% of the applicant pool is female.

If you want to get in to an M7 school, you have to know what you're doing when you apply. Getting into law school was comparatively easy, just have the right numbers and everybody will take you. For b-school you actually have to sell yourself and tell a compelling story.

That said, even with a JD/MBA getting into PE or HF is really really difficult. IBanking is actually a much easier route because PE and HF expect a certain amount of previous banking experience. Now, if you go to law school after working at a bank for a few years it becomes a different story - but you could have gotten into a PE/HF without going to law school just as easily.

Interesting. At HBS, did you know a lot of people with non-trad WE? Say for example, TFA or working at an NGO? Basically, my goal is to get into a non-HSW (being realistic) T10 MBA program, but I'm concerned about 2 things: first, getting in without great WE; and second, getting a job after b-school without great WE (with bascially only 3 years of unexceptional/unprestigious WE and the name of the school on the resume).

Funny you should ask that, when I said I deferred I actually did so to do TFA. The number of TFAers in my class of 903 is a single-digit number (compared with over 100 Mckinsey alums) but again that's self-selection. It's not about the name of the firm you worked for, it's about what you did and how you leverage that to give a compelling story.

That said, "getting a job without great WE" isn't hard, but it depends a LOT on what kind of job you want to get. Breaking into PE without great WE is pretty much impossible and most consulting firms are open-minded, but getting a market-paying job isn't terribly challenging.

nothing crazy...i went to a decent liberal arts school, with ok grades (<3.5, but not far behind), and took a crappy operations job at a large financial firm. i networked like crazy/talked to many recruiters and was able to leverage the small work experience i had to get on a sell-side brokerage desk. after busting my ass there for 2.5yrs, i did the same thing i did at my first job--i networked and talked to a bunch of recruiters. that landed me on a trading desk at a hedge fund[/quote]

Did you attend any networking functions in the city? I have found some Hedge Fund events and alot of them cost a decent chunk of money to atttend. I guess it depends on how badly someone wants it. Do you recommend any good recruiters or even temp agencies that have good placement? I have been using linkedin which has been ok to an extent.

1.) how did i get the first job?i literally applied through the company's website. during my senior year and coming out of UG i was not very career focused--it was not that i did not want to get a good job, i was just pretty clueless as to the process--so after i graduated i spent the first month of my summer basically spamming company websites/recruiters with my resume. when you put yourself out there enough, you will eventually get a few bites (i could see some disagreeing with this thought, but my case is an example where it did work).

2.) what do i mean by operations? i sat in a cubicle nowhere near a trading floor. generally, when trades were executed by the front office crew, confirms came through to the back/middle office and i ensured that they were booked correctly. it was by no means glamorous, or even the least bit interesting, but, it did give me some exposure to different products, and provide me with the ability to spin this experience into something positive/demonstrate that i had at least some relevant skill set

3.) have i ever gone to networking conferences? no--shelling out a lot of $ for something like that seems like a bit of a waste to me when you can really do it on your own for free--talk to your friends who may work in the industry, your parents friends, neighbors, customers who come into your part time workplace, etc. you really never know where you may run into someone who may be willing to give you shot

4.) would i suggest any specific recruiters?i really like glocap--all of their job postings are legit, and they (the people who work there) are no BS. the thing you need to really keep in mind with recruiters is that in the end they are simply salespeople--they get paid when they place you--so in the end, they do not necessarily care if a job fits your specs, they just want you to accept it. with that being said, i have tended to have success/better experiences with the bigger name recruiting firms

just acknowledging the person who said that you can not go into an operations/back office role with the mentality that you will jump into the front office--this person is absolutely correct--so take my story fwiw--but i did want to note that i only stayed in this operational role for roughly 9 months. the key was being able to network, keep my resume out there, and leverage the small experience i had into something more.

As someone who works at Goldman Sachs, several of my coworkers had JDs. However, most of them already worked at Goldman and then went back for a JD. One of the associates in my group was doing a part-time program at Fordham, which the company was partially paying for.

It seems like going the MBA route would be easier. Though some of the guys in IBD swear the JD is helpful when making the deals.

Anonymous User wrote:As someone who works at Goldman Sachs, several of my coworkers had JDs. However, most of them already worked at Goldman and then went back for a JD. One of the associates in my group was doing a part-time program at Fordham, which the company was partially paying for.

It seems like going the MBA route would be easier. Though some of the guys in IBD swear the JD is helpful when making the deals.